19. Jeff Preiss, Epoch Films

Published on June 01, 2002.

All those people slinking around their office in that new cotton spot from Ogilvy? They're Dutch. Epoch Films' Jeff Preiss, who directed the commercial, worked with a Dutch DP who has a studio outside Amsterdam, where the spot was shot. "I like casting outside the U.S.," says Preiss. "It gives you a slightly different feel; you can't quite put your finger on it." That he's working with a DP is also interesting, since he came into commercials from cinematography. He worked with photographer Bruce Weber early in his career, and also shot experimental films. While Preiss seems comfortable with more stylized, dramatic approaches, he tends to get tagged a lot with the documentary label, and his work reflects it. His "Neighborhood" campaign for MCI and Deutsch comes straight out of this genre, as does his compelling Nike spot of athletes in action, titled "Just." Doing this kind of work, he says, is not without peril. "It can risk being boring, but when it works it comes with an honesty that people trust."